The ''world's only tree-climbing...

DOG TO GET PACEMAKER.

August 1, 1989

DOVESVILLE, S.C. — DOG TO GET PACEMAKER. The ''world's only tree-climbing dog'' is not well. His heart beats too slowly and needs a pacemaker. The Dovesville, S.C., dog, known from Hollywood to Tokyo, will get one today. In late June, Flat Nose was performing for yet another mall crowd in Orangeburg, S.C. Halfway up a tree, the dog stopped. His owner, Barney Odom, helped him down. Flat Nose, 8, fainted. ''Climbing trees is what he loves to do,'' said David Godbold, who manages Odom and his dog. Veterinarians at North Carolina State University, who will perform the operation, say he probably will be able to resume his tree-climbing act - just not as much. Much of the research on pacemakers in humans was done with dogs, said Charlotte, N.C., veterinarian Barbara Nicks.